however . . . on a lighter note . . .

i have just discovered that one of my favourite tv programmes is back soon . . .

ladette to lady!!

i probably watch about 30 hours tv per year - not a huge fan!! - but i find this compulsive viewing!! - very entertaining!

Where is the 'care' in British Gas Home Care??

this 'service' costs me over £200 a year - and this is how useful it is:

sunday:

around 18.00 hours:

boiler started to clank and then the lights started to flash and then there was no hot water and no heating

around 20.30 hours:

phoned homecare and they said the earliest they could get an engineer out was 'between 8 and 1 on Tuesday'

monday:

no hot water, no central heating

tuesday:

engineer arrived around 10.00 - fixed the pump - boiler working again

wednesday:

lucia was here and also stella and the pies.

around 14.00 hours: more boiler clanking and flashing lights - no more heating, no more hot water. phoned home care and said this was priority because i had small children staying with me in the house, youngest of whom, cpie, is 22 months. said they could get an engineer out 'tomorrow between 8 and 6.'

thursday:

16.00 hours and no engineer in sight. phoned home care and asked if one was coming - yes definintely.

17.00 hours and still no engineer - phoned again, asked what was happening and was told they would email the engineer and get back to me

17.20 still no engineer and no phone call. phoned again just as the van drew up on the driveway

engineer came in, looked at the boiler and said the pump was broken (i personally think the other chap just bodged it), he would get a new part and would be back in the morning at 11.00.

17.45 home care phoned to check if engineer had been

another night with no central heating and no hot water.

today:

11.00 engineer arrived, fixed the boiler and left by mid-day.

between sunday at 6.00 p.m and today at mid-day (114 hours) my house had neither hot water nor heating for a total of 86 hours

the engineer (who had to bear the brunt of my anger - although i told him several times that i did realise it wasn't his fault) had only been told about the job 30 minutes before he arrived!! yet homecare had known about it for 27 hours by then. arriving so late in the day, he was unable to get a part before morning. this 'service' is quite obviously a complete shambles!!

i think the administrative team (if there is one) should get themselves organised - get some people with brains on the job is my advice

swings and roundabouts . . .

the weekend has had its 'ups' . . . but also a decided 'down'

HIGHS:

I am lucky that I have a good number of really great friends - but of course over the years there are some who, for whatever reason, stand out. My friend B is one of them. For one year we shared a truly grotty flat with 3 other girls. This flat was the top floor of a large but very run-down house near Sefton Park, Liverpool - and I'm not saying the Landlord was exactly criminal but he was certainly more than a little bit shady!! Then, as now - well probably more then than now - I was up for any mischief going . . . and B and I certainly got up to our fair share - including one memorable and hilarious History field trip to London. (B and I both did History as a 'Main'.) This included us gaining unlawful entry to the Houses of Parliament - mainly due to B telling the policeman who challenged us that we were 'expected'!! About 20 years ago B and family moved to the Antipodes and I lost contact. I bet you can all guess where this is leading . . . . . Good Old Facebook!!! YAY!! This weekend I heard from her again - they are back in England and not really terribly far from here. The last time I saw here she was expecting their first baby - and now he is almost 30!! We have a lot of catching up to do . . . and I am very excited!!!

My second high is having Kathy and Tony drop in for a bite to eat on their way back home from visiting Claire. It is always lovely to see them and hear their news. Exciting times for them as they have 2 grandchildren expected this year. Unfortunately, however, while they were here . . .

My LOW occurred:

I had just turned the tap on when the boiler gave an almighty clunk!! crash!! bang!! Then 2 of its red lights started flashing and the gas flame symbol thing went out too. The upshot is that the darned thing is broken, I called the Home Care people and an engineer is coming out Tuesday morning. In the meantime . . . no heating and no hot water other than what I can boil up in the kettle. I love the snow and the cold weather . . . but just for now I'm hoping we have at least 36 hours of warmish temperatures!!

a smile a day . . .

here's what made me smile today:
from 'My Little Book of Crap Advice':

Ten Top Reasons to Procrastinate
1.


hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

nicked from cat's blog . . . .

this seemed like a good idea . . . though a little after new year . . .

2007 - MOST MEMORABLE

FILM: The Queen - about the only new release I saw

BOOK: Conrad's 'The Rover' - 'O' level text I revisited after 40-odd years - recommended!!

MEAL: New Year's Dinner - 2 halves really: the one which ended in 2007 at Judy and John's and the one which started at mine in 2007 and ended in 2008

HOLIDAY: Northumberland - visiting Barter Books and walking along the coast to Dunster Castle on the same day - fantastic!!

WEEKEND: Sheffield at Easter . . . and going to the top of Win Hill

DAY: the wedding - of course!!!!!!!

MOMENT: seeing Lucia-Rose for the first time

twelfth night

it has been a busy week-end!

saturday:

eric, janey and lizzie arrived early afternoon and eric did some extraordinarily useful jobs for me: mended my bath and outside pipe and (even more importantly) mended jpie's chair-he-ever-had. then we just did the usual: sat around drinking coffee and/or wine

in the evening it was our 2nd annual visit to the panto at the palace along with kpie, jpie, rich and most of rich's family (they took up almost the whole of the front 2 rows!!) . amazing fun - what can i say? we all enjoyed it tremendously! then back here ordering a chinese en route and we all ate far too much and drank more wine - lovely!!

sunday:

latish breakfast and then j e and l pushed off for maud's.

stella rich and the pies came around 3.00 and then frankie alex and lucia a bit later. we had tea out in the conservatory (hoorah!!) and then (at last) opened our christmas presents. stella had lucia, cpie and jpie as the 3 wise men and kpie as the camel with little l riding astride - they all lined up in the hall and then processed into the sitting room - hahaha they are very funny

after they left i took down the crimble decs and tree decs and took the tree outside. it always seems so sad when it all has go. i always leave the crib up until about february as the wise men only come today and it seems a shame to pack away so soon! this year, however, i have left quite a few other things out on the basis that they were only up for the wedding anyway

so . . . christmas over for another year . . . 2008 looks like being an eventful year: ruda with s,r,k,j and c (and possibly f, a and lucia too) in april, mary and kevin's wedding in may, the counting in june, possible trip to stoff in the summer, o and g trying to move down here, i may do another solo hols - possibly yorkshire this time - and quite a lot of my targets to be achieved too . . .

back to work

nothing much to report about that . . . except that . . . people were enthusing about some tv prog called 'how to look good naked'. i turned on to watch . . . and just about managed ten minutes and had to turn it off again. i have rarely seen such a load of old drivel in my life. if it hadn't been so cold i would have gone out to the shed, got my tin of yellow paint and watched it dry!! far more interesting!!

2008 . . . and no resolutions

i have only just remembered one is supposed to make them . . . never mind . . .

last night was the Annual New Year's Eve Dinner - and it was at my house - yay! i am really getting into 'party-hosting' mode!

eric and janey were here around mid-day and we had heaps of fun getting ready - eric made funny hats and a 'menu' like a sort of 'cheapo' (!! imagine!!) mcdonalds

janey had brought beouf bourguignon and also made mashed tates (and did most of the veg cooking too), denny and john brought the starter (fish) and jane and dave and john and jude brought the puds (trifle, pineapple and a chocolate torte) - yumm mcscrumm to all. i didn't really do an awful lot it seems - just the nigella express chicken and the cheese and biscuits. but it all went very well, we seemed to laugh a lot and the atmosphere was lovely. we sang auld lang syne at midnight and then went back into the conservatory to finish our cheese course and 'passed the port' - great company and a great start to 2008!!

then today we had the Annual New Year's Day Walk and Pub Lunch. Same 'suspects' as at the dinner plus Cat and David and Freddie (except they weren't allowed to stay because the pub 'doesn't have a licence for under 14s unless accompanied by an adult and eating a meal') - ya boo to the Essex Arms for a rotten attitude!!. matt and helen, chris and zoe and ali and sam also pitched up.

Frankie phoned when i had been back home for a while - they are visiting stella et al - to let me know the web-site for the wedding pics. so had a quick shufti at them and then did some ou work - which i have been sadly neglecting what with all the wedding palaver. also spoke to stella who has booked their ruda van - so booked mine too - yay!! - north devon here we come - wheee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a joyous noel . . .

Yesterday evening I went to celebrate Noel's 80th birthday at Watford Bowls Club. (I find it hard to believe Noel actually is 80 - he looks years younger!!) It was a lovely party with delicious food, great speeches and lovely company.

Earlier in the day I went round to Jackie's to visit and see the pies. They were all well - Ketta and Jose in the kitchen doing play-doh modelling and then Calla got up from her sleep. Today Jackie is driving them back up to Yorkshire.

Mid-day today Janey and Eric came round to bring some drinks and the beouf bourguignon for tomorrow's New Year's Eve Dinner (at my house this time). They will be back in the morning and I think I shall have a busy day getting ready. I am a little nervous - not least because I am such a useless cook - but the Nigella recipe seems quite simple so I am hoping for the best!

I am writing now because I know I shan't have time tomorrow and I wanted to wish everyone who visits this blog a Very Happy New Year - with much love xxxxx

christmas time . . . mistletoe and wine . . .

here's a quick catch-up:

saturday:

stella, rich and i fell into various beds around 2.00 a.m. - the pies and lucia had all been fast asleep since about 7.30/8.30

once we were up it was mainly taking stuff back (cutlery, crocks, wine glasses and the car) and also collecting frankie and alex from the noke where they had spent the night.

heaps and heaps of tidying and in the evening went to jackie's for a lovely meal. we were: jackie, pete, brian, ruth, rich, stella, elizabeth, barry, anna, isabelle, ryan, jemma, andrew and self. brian had made a nice starter - and also some seasonal reindeer meat - and then jackie had made curry with accompaniments including naan bread - yumm! i was very tired however, and had to excuse myself before 11.00.

sunday:

mainly tidying i think and when i was completely finished watched 'father of the bride' for the aah factor

monday (christmas eve):

up to yorkshire by early afternoon. what a wonderful christmas it was!!! the pies were lovely and we all had lots of laughs. stella cooked a brilliant christmas dinner which we had that night as they were travelling back down to hertfordshire on boxing day and wanted to have as few left-overs as poss. it was delish!!!!!

christmas day:

splendid!! what can i say? christmas with the pies is just the best!! mainly we just sat around talking and eating and drinking - we watched 'polar express' with the pies in the afternoon and 'love actually' in the evening. their house is so cosy, the company was wonderful and the only sad thing was missing frankie, alex and lucia. we all went to bed tired but happy.

boxing day:

down to ashby around mid-day and managed to catch o and g still there and then went with eric to take them back home. they had all had a lovely christmas too. eric and i were back home by early evening. we were so full after lunch we didn't need supper so just sat around talking and drinking wine for yonks

thursday and friday:

home again - robin has been and collected the marquee and associated bits and pieces

stella and rich have gone back to yorkshire minus the pies for a couple of days adn called in briefly on the way home

i went over to hazlemere to spend the evening with the fairlies yesterday - had a lovely time - this was the first time i have been there since they moved in - it is very homely and cosy and i had a great evening. lucia was very sweet - malcolm gave here a little rocking horse (except it is a reindeer) for christmas and she just loves it - she is very sweet

friday 21 december 2007 - frankie's and alex's wedding

i have already described the wedding as the best night of my life . . . and it was certainly that!

lots of people helped including stella and jess both of whom were here until late on wednesday and thursday helping frankie and me with the decorating/orders of service

friday morning saw eric and janey here - janey to look after lpip who was crawling over just about everything and eric to hoover the marquee - a man!! a man mark you, doing the hoovering!! - whatever next??

the wedding mass was beautiful and frankie looked stunning!! lpip and cpie looked very sweet:

lpip (with jackie) and cpie waiting for arrivals in church

huge, huge thanks to jackie, incidentally, who, with rich, looked after not only her own grandchildren, kpie, jpie and cpie, but also lucia whilst the rest of us were flying around getting the marquee and the morning preparations done - and went out and did shopping for me thursday morning! - a lady who truly deserves the title of 'MUMBE'!!

jpie walked down the aisle with me and did the most tremendous bow when he got to the front!
jpie doing his 'piggy' face

as for kpie! the prettiest flower girl i have ever seen:
and here are most of the bridal party on the altar:

that's: gerorge, jess. frankie, alex, stella and justin, the best man (and wicked conservatory builder!)

folks just milling round at the back of the church after the mass:

jess, stella with kpie and jpie, rich, jemma (who made frankie's beautiful, beautiful dress), pete (who did parking warden duty during the mass) and peter who stood in for boogs so magnificently!

our 'new' family:

moi ('oh my! where did you get that 'at?'), alex, lpip, frankie and stella

i love this photo of my 2 lovely girls - you can tell they are great friends - and you can also see how jess did the bridesmaids' hair with black feathers in the chignonny-type-thing:

beautiful bride and dishy groom!!:

meanwhile . . . back at the house . . .

here are o, lizzie, matt and g in the marquee:

eric and cat

lots of friends and relatives in the marquee:

anna talking to brian (who also 'did' her wedding), round the table at the back its jackie, with clara, talking to jemma, table in front: g, james, peter and emma, malcolm is talking to geoff just behind them and there's justin on the extreme right

more or less the same but with ricky on the left behind anna, stella at the back, alex talking to geoff behind me and lpip and the table on the right has sarah, kelly and mark with justin:

and here am i with lpip and obviously having a wonderful time (even though my grin looks scarily like cherie blair's!!)

frankie and alex cutting the caake - cat made this cake for them!! - it was chocolate covered with white chocolate with chocolate swirly bits - and feathers and roses for the top - yumm mcscrumm!! - and obviously 'Frankie Heaven'!!!

alex and justin both did very good- and very funny speeches . . . and this is frankie doing her speech . . . thanking cat . . . (that's pauline and chas in the background)

a very happy couple . . .

. . . and finally . . .

frankie and alex had a wedding guest book . . . and someone who knew him very well wrote 'Boogy would have been proud' - my cup brimmeth over!!

'the night i ever had . . . '

yes . . . the wedding has come and gone . . . and it was the best afternoon/night of my whole life!!! . . .

. . . in the same (but of course completely different) way that 22 june 2002 (stella and rich's wedding day) was the best morning/afternoon of my whole life!!! . . .

i am still totally overwhelmed with what a wonderful day it was . . . and now there is only the kitchen still to finish tidying and i shall be 'all square' again!

tomorrow early morn i travel up to yorkshire to spend christmas with stella rich and the pies, leaving tully in the capable hands of my lovely neighbours, lara, ricky, lauren, jake and benson . . . and i shall update on here when i return . . .

happy christmas everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

worrying . . .

this is how i manage to irritate my daughters . . .

today stella rich and the pies drove down from yorkshire

they dropped in for a quick coffee/milk on the way to jackie's

rich and the pies are staying down but stella is going back up for a few days and then coming down for the wedding

the insurance paid up after stella's accident - it wasn't her fault - but they are waiting a while before they get a new car and in the meantime have been lent one by a kind friend.

rich sent me a text to let me know that stella is on her way back . . . but what is worrying me is that:

she is always losing her keys and now she is driving back home with a set of keys which aren't really hers and i'm wondering if she has remembered her house keys!

this is quite (quite!!) ridiculous!!!

stella has been independent for 9 years - 4 at uni and now over 5 married

she has 3 lovely children whom she manages to look after superbly

she is one of the most capable women i know

. . . and yet i am still worried she may be locked out of her home when she arrives!!

is it any wonder my family get irritated??

why do i only ever write on here on sundays?

. . . i don't know . . . it's certainly not because it is the quietest day of the week . . . or the least busy . . . or the day i feel inspired.

a lot has happened this week . . . some of it good . . . some of it awful . . .

i am very cheesed off . . . in fact i am a gorgonzola

a whirl of activity!

we have all been very busy since last i wrote - so just a quick update then . . .

my lovely girls:

it was Frankie's 'Ladies Pre-Wedding Dinner' weekend' - and we all had a grand time!

Stella arrived Friday evening - I picked her up from the bus station in Golders Green - and then stayed up until gone 2.00 chatting and making things (games) for the dinner.

Saturday S and I went into Watford shopping - we went into every clothes shop in the Harlequin and found absolutely nothing for me to wear at the wedding!! although Stella managed to change the top and bolero of her bridesmaidmaid's outfit for a smaller size. (She had ordered it over the internet and when it came it was too big) so at least that was one good thing.

Frankie Alex and Lucia fetched up in the afternoon and we mainly sat around talking until it was time to get changed and go.

Stella and I collected Anna, Cat and Lizzie to take them over to the Lily Lounge in Harpenden where Shirley, Lucy, Seamus and Luke made a fabulous meal for us all. It was a fantastic venue and and an inspired choice! Frankie looked stunning and her friends were kind enough not to embarass her with any vulgar 'props' (which she had been a bit bothered about). We were: Anna, Jemma, Stella, Cat, Lizzie, Barbara, Grace, George, Catherine, Collette, Emma, Aoife, Jess, self and (naturally) Frankie. Stella had arranged some very funny games between courses which were good ice-breakers and a jolly time was had by all!

To bed late and up late too! Barbara, Grace and George cmae round this morning to see Lucia and then I took Stella off to catch the bus back at 4.00 and happily she is safely home with Rich and the Pies now.

the wedding:

plans and events coming along skippity-skip - but i am keeping schtumm about it for now and will post a report after the event.

my conservatory:

finished!!! yay!!! Alex has painted the walls and I am delighted with it - so now it is ready for the wedding which is a huge relief!!

any other business:

heaps!! but i think this post is long enough for now - and anyway it's getting late and i will just have to update some other time

until next time . . .

grrrrr!!

i don't believe it!!

arrived home from visiting o and g to find that builders' merchants have delivered for my conservatory:

one bag of sand

several lengths of skirting board

one 3m length of window board

and left them on my driveway . . .

in the rain!!!

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeccccccccccchhhhhhh!!!!! (me letting off steam!!)

a veritable medley of unusual and unexpected activities:

lots of novel events for me this week . . .

monday and an election:

straight to school after work to do gov's stuff (parent gov election) which meant i had to miss the 'sharing in his life' session. it was a shame but the work i had to do was new to me and consequently interesting.

tuesday and the women's group:

it was my 'turn' to have women's group evning. I had really struggled to think of something to do and then on sunday night stella had a crafty idea which sounded a good bet. i looked on the hobbycraft website and also went to the store after work. but in the end i decided i should really have at least practised to make sure it worked and to be confident about showing the others how to do it. and so i abandonned the idea and we just had mulled wine and mince pies to get us in the Christmas spirit - even though it isn't even advent yet!! it was a good evening though. these ladies came: jackie, mary e, sue s, katrina, dorota and liz.

wednesday and my first tutorial:

after looking after lucia i went up to london in the evening for my first german tutorial. it was very enjoyable and didn't even seem like hard work. i got lost getting there (of course) but fortunately i was early so still managed to arrive in time.

thursday and a dancing lesson:

friday will be my first scottish dance! so tonight we practised as many of the dances as we had time for

friday and my first scottish dance:

petra and i have been going to scottish dance lessons for about 2 months now and the association held a 'beginners' dance. It was held in watford at St Thomas's. The experienced dancers were very helpful, it was nice to 'dress up' a bit, both p and i did better than we expected, we all sang auld lang syne at the end and a jolly good time was had by all!! Home exhausted but happy!!

saturday and shopping (yes your eyes do not deceive you - i really did go shopping!!)

left early and was at the 'pie-house' by 9.00 a.m. quick coffee and communing with pies and then stella and i went to leeds ikea. stella bought lots of nice things for the house: some wooden slatted blinds for the kitchen, a shaker-style shelf and boxes for kezia's room, a hobby horse for jago, a red fleecy blanket for clara, some other odds and ends - like one always just seems to do at ikea! - and a lovely present for someone (can't say what or for whom - spies may be reading this - lol!!). i was starving by mid-day having had no breakfast and vitually nothing on friday, so we even stopped for lunch. we were there about 5 hours all told and then called in at the white rose centre on the way back to get stella's maid dress (only they didn't have it in but she has ordered one internetly). arrived back after dark to find clara sitting in her high-chair chatting to herself in the window's reflection, kezia and jago playing and rich just finishing making us all a lovely soup. yumm!! quiet evening.

sunday and a snow journey:

lovely morning with the pies and then set off home after lunch. stella has a rotten cold poor thing so i think she was going back to bed as soon as i left. horrid weather all the way down except for some snow - yay!! - round milton keynes/luton. it was far too wet for it to settle unfortunately but it did look lovely in the head-lights.

and finally . . . i am aghast to think it is only just over a month to the wedding - i am beginning to stress a bit about my 'outfit', frankie on the other hand is remarkably laid back about everything! i now find she has quietly been sorting everything out so that it is all in fact organised whilst conning us all that she is totally disorganised - what a joker!!!

An Element of Electricians

life has been busy mcbizz this week all right!!

Monday: to Liz and David's in the evening - very nice time

Tuesday: Frankie and Lucia here after work and then Frankie whizzed to collect Linda. Linda is doing the food for the wedding and had lots and lots of tips and useful hints for us. We have decided what we will have and I have a l-o-n-g shopping list. This was a jolly good job done! Alex and Justin were also here to talk about electrical work to be done on the conservatory. (I knew my fuse box and junction box etc did need to be updated)

Wednesday: Fran had parents' evening so stayed at school, Alex came here and stayed with Lucia, and I went shopping. Fran home around 9.00 ish and we all had soup and then all 3 of them stayed as it was too late really to go home.

Thursday: I was expecting 'The Electrician' to come and put in a new fuse box to accommodate the stuff needed for the conservatory. Imagine my surprize when Frankie rang me at 4.15 to say she was parked outside my house and did I know that there were 'Electricians' in my house - 'about 3 of them and two great big vans parked on the driveway'. Oh dear!! A Siege!! (What is the collective noun for electricians, by the way?) I arrived home to find floorboards and carpets up all over the house, toolboxes and bits of flex everywhere, brickdust on every surface and what seemed like a veritable battalion of electrical johnnies in every room in the house. Actually there were only four - it just seemed like hundreds!! Then I had to go weaving in and out of the homegoing traffic and buy the wall lights I wanted in order that they could be placed at the right height - and to make matters worse Next didn't have the ones I had chosen from the catalogue so had to make a quick dash to Homebase and buy others - which I don't really like as much but I was desperate by then!! I eventually made it back home, by which time the electricians had left having first promised to come back the next day to finish off . . . and I was just in time to gather my stuff and dash out to Bushey for class.

Friday: decided to use a bit of my flexi to leave at 3.00, go home to tidy up and get the dinner on before Janey and Eric arrived for the night. I was so sure the electrical work would be done and everything neatly back in place. You've guessed it!! Two electricians still there, carpets still up toolboxes still lying around, place looking like Bedlam (but not as tidy) and no apparent end to the work! I managed to dust and tidy a bit in the upstairs rooms which had been finished but couldn't vacuum as all the sockets were off and, even worse, couldn't get dinner started because, with the power off, I couldn't use the oven either. They did eventually leave at 5.30 (and if this sounds like a rant I have to say they did a very good job and it wasn't their fault it took so long). By this time the house was still in pretty poor shape tidy-wise and the dinner only just in. I could have wept! Janey and Eric arrived at 6.00 by which time at least the dinner was heating up and the dining room back to normality. But it's amazing what a difference a box of wine makes! By 7.00 we were sitting round the table laughing and the evening finished very well indeed!

Saturday: made the 'one-pan breakfast' Stella told me about - which went down very well, lashings of coffee and then E & J left around 11.00. Spent most of the rest of the day cleaning and tidying and then Evening Mass with Edna.

Today: It was Remembrance Sunday so up to O and G's early and Eric and Janey came too. G, E, J and I went to the Remembrance Parade and then back for coffee and caake before going out to the Heart of England for lunch. We managed to have quite a lengthy chat about the possibility of O & G moving down to Hertfordshire - which looks like a bit of a 'go-er'.

So . . . it's been a busy week - but quite productive: 10/10 Po!! well done and gold star!!

weekly 'round up'

The week has been very busy and consequently gone in a FLASH!! (this is a Good Thing)

The wedding seems to be finally coming together: Fran has actually decided on the style of her dress (unbelievable but true!) and she and Jemma went to London yesterday and bought the fabric . . . so no going back now (lol). While they were there they even saw dresses for the maids which they liked and which should be easy to get for the girls. Replies to invitations have been coming in and today Fran and Alex went to M & S and bought wine and stuff. I thought I had better start thinking about my m.o.b. outfit as I think the one I had for Stella and Rich's wedding will be too snug a fit now. (I know it is customary to have a new outfit - but I do so hate shopping and I thought I would get away with a new top to go with it and different accessories. Besides which it seems plain daft to have yet another outfit hanging in the wardrobe which I will probably never wear again.) Anyway Fran and I had a quick look on the internet and there seems to quite a few nice things in the shops right now. I dread actually going into all those horrid crowded shops though! Sigh!!

Frankie and Alex and Lucia have moved to their new home - I haven't been over there yet - it will seem funny not having them so close. I looked after Lucia yesterday while Fran was in London. We went over to visit Cat David and Freddie in the afternoon. Freddie is very sweet and kept giving Lucia hugs and kisses and grapes and bits of melon. We picked Fran up from the Junction, came home here and had cups of tea etc. By the time they left it was a liitle too late to make it to the Park for the Fireworks so I had a shower, watched the last bit of 'Gunpowder, Treason and Plot' and then went round to Jackie's for supper. Danuta and Nusia were there as well as Elizabeth, Barry, Claire and Anna with Isabelle and Ryan. Ryan is lovely - he sat on my lap for ages and was quite content. (Isabelle is lovely too of course!). Brian was home and had brought some sparklers which we had in the garden. And then we all went back inside and chatted - it was a lovely evening!

Today was fairly quiet until Fran and Alex and Lucia arrived. I have been trying to sort out some paper work and it was in piles all over the floor in the Library. After Lucia had been in there it was all over the floor of the Library NOT in piles! She also does what Kezia, Jago and Clara did: push all the books right to the back of the shelves - but the funny thing is: Fran used to do the very same thing when she was little - she said it was 'such a nice feeling' !!! Mad as pants!!

another week gone . . . and a week nearer to THE wedding!!

Monday: the 6-week 'Sharing in His Life' evening sessions have started at Liz and David's. This was the second one. They are quite challenging but interesting and I enjoy going.

Tuesday: Visited with O and G in the evening after work. I didn't tell them I was going but O asked was I checking up on her? Of course!! Haven't seen her look so well in absolutely yonks!! She had had her hair done that afternoon and was wearing a lovely pink jumper and tweedy skirt - she looked very well indeed. G asked me to look out for a little flat in Watford or surrounding area to which they can move: sounds like a fine idea!!

Wednesday: It was half-term hols so I didn't have Lucia. I did lots of necessary 'jobs' in the house - like painting the front step and mending the kitchen sink drain pipe - exciting stuff!! wow!!

Thursday: Frankie, Alex and Lucia came in the evening. Frankie did all the wedding invites ready to go out.

Friday: Fran came to 'house sit' while the conservatory 'bits' were delivered . . . and they nearly all were!! Just the roof missing . . . it was delivered to Darren's house (sigh). On a more positive note, however . . . all invites are now posted - hoorah!!

Saturday: Fran and Alex busy packing up all their stuff ready for the move. I had Lucia. Then F and A came and brought their dinner to cook - this is because the heating has packed up in the their house and anyway it is full of boxes!! - Alex cooked and it was delish!! they left at about 9 and I was sooo tired I went straight to bed!!

Today: Fran, Lucia and I went over to see Jemma . . . oh dear!! Frankie really is 'The Mistress of Indecision'!! It took ages to decide what she wanted . . . and then she changed her mind on the way home!!! There are less than 8 weeks left!! . . . will everything be done on time I wonder?? Watch this space!